Dr Taylor's Favorite Gut Healing Tools

Gut health has become mainstream today as we continue to learn about the gut’s connection with inflammation, the brain, the immune system, chronic disease, and general well-being. Gut health is now linked to nearly every disease process, and especially to our 21st century health epidemics like Autism, Asthma, Allergies, Autoimmune Disease, ADHD, Fibromyalgia, Chronic Fatigue Syndrome, Thyroid Disease, even top killers like Heart Disease and Diabetes.

It is now well established that intestinal permeability, or leaky gut, is the gateway to autoimmune disease - including Eczema, Psoriasis, Hashimoto’s thyroiditis, MS, Lupus, Rheumatoid Arthritis, and Food Sensitivities. There are now more than 80 known autoimmune diagnoses.

Leaky gut, or intestinal permeability, is a process where foreign proteins or food particles are able to cross the gut lining and get into the bloodstream. This elicits an inflammatory immune response, as the immune system recognizes the foreign particles as invaders and begins to attack. If this process happens repeatedly over and over and over again (such as with the S.A.D. Standard American Diet), the immune system loses the ability to distinguish self from non-self and begins attacking body tissues, such as the thyroid as an example. This creates an inflammatory cascade, negatively affects the function of the organ or gland involved (thyroid in this case), and the underlying immune response continues to get worse.

Microbiome - The human intestinal tract contains 10 times more bacteria than all the cells in the entire human body - over 100 trillion microorganisms. This enormous biomass includes an estimated 1,800 genera and 15,000-36,000 different bacterial species. Each individual plays host to around 160 of these different species at any given time. This incredible assortment of bacteria, viruses, fungi, and yeast is a living community in your digestive tract known as your microbiome.

Epithelium -The thin tissue forming the outer layer of a body's surface and lining the alimentary canal and other hollow structures.

Your digestive tract is a very thin-walled tube, and that wall is called an epithelium. The single cell layer that separates your digestive tract from your bloodstream - or keeps your poop out of your blood. With regards to leaky gut, or intestinal permeability, we are specifically referring to the epithelium layer in the intestines, most notably the large intestine.

So, WHAT CAN YOU DO?!?

This podcast contains an extensive list of the gut healing tools I like to use in clinical practice. Each of our patients is different, and every plan or protocol is customized based on that individual’s health history, symptoms, and lab testing results. This list is also not all-inclusive!